These days when the Redd Kross plays a concert the band looks out over an audience that typically runs the gamut from 50- and 60-somethings on down to teenagers. It’s a heartening development for the band — launched 39 years ago by brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne while they were still in middle school – as they continue to be revered by their peers, but also discovered by new fans.

“With the internet kids can find stuff that would have otherwise been totally obscure prior,” says Steven McDonald of the band’s embrace by a contingent of youthful garage rock and pop fanatics centered around labels like Burger Records. “I’ve been at all ages shows and heard kids talking about our [first] Posh Boy sessions from ’79 who didn’t know who I was. It’s pretty funny.”

Formed in 1978, Redd Kross has a rich and storied musical history that’s seen them evolve musically. The band was part of the early L.A. punk scene (and closely tied to Black Flag), and exerted a profound influence on the coming generation of grunge acts, including Nirvana and the Melvins. Their late-80s early ‘90s albums like “Neurotica” and “Phaseshifter” would become be fetishized by power-pop enthusiasts. “Our sound had changed a lot during different eras and that’s part of why we’ve gained these pockets of fans over our career,” says McDonald.

After the release of 1997’s “Show World,” Redd Kross went on a nearly decade-long hiatus before coming back in 2006, when they regrouped for some dates in Spain, where they’re regarded as stars. “Like all bands, when the money gets good enough you figure out how to do it,” chuckles McDonald. “But me for me and my brother it’s always been something that’s part of who are… and since then we decided to continue doing it.”

In 2012, the band returned to the studio, releasing “Researching the Blues” for North Carolina indie label Merge. They’re currently prepping a follow-up LP, and this week will kick off their most extensive tour of America in 20 years — one that will bring them to Midtown’s Growlers for a show on Saturday.

The current Redd Kross lineup features the Melvins’ Dale Crover on drums, who’s standing in for longtime Redd Kross trapsman Roy McDonald (no relation to the brothers). Steven McDonald has been paying bass with the Melvins recently, as well as occasionally playing with Crover in punk band OFF!

“I’ve known Dale since the early-‘90s and we’d been in contact off and on,” says McDonald. “Conversations came up that if the Melvins ever needed anyone that I was up for it… so I did a record and a whole year of touring with the Melvins. And then when this tour came up Dale was available, and it seemed like a good fit. Him and I are kind of a rhythm section now; we’re in three different bands together.”

The band rehearsed with Crover over the last couple months to get him up to speed on the Redd Kross catalog. “With Dale we’ve put about 30 songs together and we’ll pick and choose from that list every night,” says McDonald. “Listening to Dale play with us, doing our music, it’s striking how broad his abilities are. I think people are gonna be surprised and exited to hear him play more in this kind of vein.”

Redd Kross is calling its current jaunt “Beneath the Valley of the Teen Babes Tour" – “that’s a Russ Meyer reference,” notes McDonald, “but also a reference to our mini album ‘Teen Babes from Monsanto.” A covers-heavy collection released in 1984 – featuring renditions of songs by KISS, the Stooges and Rolling Stones – the disc was recently reissued in expanded form on Jeff McDonald’s boutique label Redd Kross Fashions.

“In the last couple years my brother has started his own online label and put out a couple rarities collections and the ‘Teen Babes’ record. The album is only 25 minutes long, so we’ll play all of that record in our set, which is exciting because a lot of those songs we never played live before,” says McDonald, who adds that the band’s set list will stretch all the way back to the 1978’s self-titled debut EP and their first full-length from 1982, “Born Innocent.”

Although Redd Kross will be rummaging through their back pages on tour, they’re also looking towards the future, with plans to start work on a new album this year. “My brother is the chief songwriter in the band, so the sound is really born from his songs,” says McDonald. “But I think the next record gonna be in keeping with the [classic] Redd Kross thing – it’ll be an extension of what we did with ‘Researching the Blues’ and wherever my brother wants to take it.”

The band hopes to complete work on the album – which has the working title of "Octavia" – later this year. “Once we’re done with Redd Kross shows and also some Melvins touring we’ll go back in the studio and knock this thing out,” says McDonald.

In the meantime, the band’s show at Growlers marks the band's first Bluff City gig in at least couple decades, possibly its first Memphis date since the ‘80s. “I’m not even sure,” says McDonald. “But this is the first time we’ve done a concentrated tour in the middle of the U.S. in forever. I’ve done it lots with OFF! and the Melvins but this is first time I get to do it with Redd Kross. I’m excited. We all are.”

Redd Kross show

Saturday, 9 p.m. at Growlers, 1911 Poplar Avenue
Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 day of show.
Available at eventbrite.com